3 The ghost's revenge

Chapter 3 The ghost's revenge "There's no need to be scared of ghosts," Mr. Otis told his family the next morning, "but you mustn't throw pillows at them. It's rude. The twins grinned.

"We'll have to take those chains off him," said Mrs. Otis, "or we'll never get any sleep." But for the rest of that week there was no sign of the ghost. The twins looked for him everywhere. They wanted to play more tricks on him.

Fresh blood stains continued to appear each morning. Strangely, each stain was a different shade. The family made guesses as to what shade it would be next. One morning, it was even a brilliant green. When she saw that, Virginia looked cross, though she wouldn't say why.

Meanwhile, the ghost was busy plotting his revenge. He spent days looking over his wardrobe, deciding what to wear. Perfect! The ripped sheet and the rusty dagger. He planned to creep to Washington's room and make faces at the boy from the foot of his bed. Then, he would stab himself in the neck three times to the sound of slow music.

Sir Simon especially disliked Washington. It was Washington who kept removing the blood stains. Virginia, on the other hand, had never been rude. "I shall only groan at her a few times from her wardrobe," he thought. "As for the twins..." The twins, of course, deserved the worst treatment. He'd get them. He would turn into a skeleton and crawl around their beds, staring at them from one rolling eyeball.

At half-past ten the family went to bed. For a while Sir Simon heard shrieks of laughter from the twins' room, but at last all was quiet. He crept stealthily into the corridor. An owl beat its wings against the window pane, but the Otis family slept on, peacefully unaware.